OF ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 143 
botanically in having its corolla plaited in the bud, which the plants belonging to the order BoraginacecR have 
not. To a common observer, the Nolana appears most naturally to belong to the ContohulacecB : indeed the 
resemblance between the flowers of Convolvulus tricolor and those of Nolana atriplicifolia is so striking, that they 
might eafiily be supposed varieties of one species. The capsule of the Convolvulus is, however, a dry berry, while 
that of the Nolana is a fleshy drupe ; the dlfifercnce between which terms will be readily perceived by remem- 
bering that a currant is a berry, and a plum a drupe. De CandoUe placed the Nolana among the Solanacew, but 
the fruit of the SolanaeecB is a fleshy berry, as, for example, the potato-apple, and very different from the 
Nolana, the fruit or capsule of which is fleshy, with a hard bony nut or stone. To obviate all these diflSculties, 
Dr. Lindley formed the order Nolanacea, in which he has placed the genus Nolana and two other genera formerly 
considered to belong to Convolvulacea. 
1.— NOLANA PROSTRATA, Lin. THE PROSTRATE NOLANA. 
ENGHiTiNGs Bot. Mag. 731 ; and our Jig. 5, in Plate 25. I pyramidal, with triangularly sagittate segments, furnished with spur- 
Specific C'HiRACTEH Stems prostrate ; leaves ovatc-oblong ; calyx | like processes at the base. Drupes 2-4-celled. — {G.Don.) 
Description, &c. — This was the first species of the genus discovered, and from it Linnseus, who first named 
and described it, gave it the name of Nolana, from nolo, a little bell, in allusion to the bell-shaped form of ita 
corolla. The plant is a native of Peru, and seeds of it were first sent from that country to Spain. From Spain 
they were received by Professor Van Royen at Leyden, who sent them to Linnseus as the seeds of a kind of Bella- 
donna or Nightshade. About the same time M. Forskahl, one of the persons employed by the king of Denmark 
to collect new plants in the East, having obtained some of these seeds (possibly from Linnseus), sent them with a 
number of Egyptian seeds in 1761 to Miller, who was then curator of the Chelsea Botanic Garden. The plant 
was at first supposed tender, but it is now found quite hardy, only requiring to be sown very thin, and to have the 
plants kept free from weeds when they come up. The plants will not bear transplanting except when very young, 
from the extraordinary length of the root, which in a flowering plant, though not branched and very slender, has 
been often found three feet long. The stems are naturally prostrate, and if left to themselves, they will soon 
cover the bed on which they grow with a thick mass of leaves and flowers. The seeds should be sown in March 
or April, and the plants will come in flower in July. 
2.— NOLANA PARADOXA, Lhtdl. THE PARADOXICAL NOLANA. 
Emgravinos. — Bot. Reg. t. 865 ; and our fig. 3, in Plate 25. I pilose; segments of calyx triangular; corolla campanulately funnel. 
Specific Chahacteb. — Stems prostrate, hairy ; leaves ovate, obtuse, | shaped ; drupes cumulated, l-seeded. 
Description, &c. — This species was named paradoaa by Dr. Lindley, from " the deviation in the structure 
of its fruit from that of the other species of Nolana." The fruit of N. prostrata consists of five fleshy carpels or 
drupes growing closely together, and each containing four cells, every cell having within it one seed. Now the 
fruit of N. paradoxa consists of twenty carpels, each of which contains one cell and one seed ; thus forming an 
exemplification of the modern theory, that all fruits divided into cells are in fact only several distinct one-celled 
fruits grown together. The flower of N. paradoma is paler than that of N. pro*trata, and not so distinctly 
marked with dark veins. The plant is a native of Chili, and was introduced in 1823, by seeds presented to the 
London Horticultural Society by Francis Place, Esq. It is quite hardy, and its seeds may be procured in most 
of the seed-shops. The culture is exactly similar to that of jV^. prostrata. 
